Digital Switchover (Disclosure of Information) Bill

With respect to the hon. Gentleman, what is pertinent to the Bill is the administration of the targeted help scheme, which under the terms of the Bill requires us to have access to social security information. The hon. Gentleman will know what information we require, and the way in which we wish to acquire it is set out in the Bill. The new clauses are intended to control the way in which the information is handled, and that is what I propose to deal with this afternoon. I am happy to sit down with the hon. Gentleman and talk to him in detail about the targeted help scheme and how it compares with other gateway schemes handled by the DWP. I am also happy to recognise that there may be ways of improving the scheme as time rolls on. If it can be administered more efficiently and effectively, my invitation to the hon. Gentleman to talk to me is open not just at any time during the next weeks, but for as long as the Prime Minister thinks that I am doing a reasonable job in the Department. But I must respect your office, Mr. Deputy Speaker, and curtail a discussion in which I suspect you have allowed us to range rather widely for the last few minutes. The hon. Member for Poole (Mr. Syms), yet again, raised serious issues. Yes, there is an overlap of sorts, and I shall try to deal with some of his points shortly. In order to deal with the anticipation and eagerness of the hon. Members for Bath (Mr. Foster) and for Wantage (Mr. Vaizey), I should say at the outset that despite what might be described, particularly in relation to new clause 3, as the beautiful plumage of some of the arguments of the hon. Member for Wantage, I fear that they have reached ““the choir invisibule””—that is a reference to a Monty Python sketch that he was unable to complete at an earlier stage of our proceedings. None the less, I hope to convince Opposition Members of our point of view. We understand their arguments, and our disagreement with them is about not their principle but the workability of the scheme proposed under new clauses 3 and 4. Our objective is to ensure that the help scheme has the information that it needs when it needs it—and no more and no less than that. It might be helpful to take a look at clause 1. It says:"““The Secretary of State and the Northern Ireland department may…supply a relevant person with social security information for use…in connection with switchover help functions.””" Therefore, when the switchover help scheme has completed its task the legal basis for using the information, and therefore for disclosing it, will be dissolved. We have linked those powers directly to the event of digital switchover—a time-limited event—which has the same practical effect as a formal sunset clause. Once switchover is complete and the help scheme has done its job, the Department for Work and Pensions, the Ministry of Defence and any other agencies will no longer be lawfully able to disclose information. I understand the issues raised in relation to new clauses 3 and 4, and I do not disagree with the principle behind them. What I wish to examine is the workability. On new clause 3, we believe that it is best to leave matters to the judgment of public bodies working with the scheme’s administrators. It should be for them to oversee the disclosure arrangements and to determine the timing of the release of information, and I give a reassurance that the Bill, along with other legal duties including those under the Data Protection Act 1998, deals with the points that have been raised. For example, when the scheme administrator requests information needed in connection with the switchover help scheme, clause 1 enables, but does not compel, the public bodies to disclose necessary information for that purpose. Those public bodies must be satisfied that the information is necessary for the digital switchover help scheme to comply with their own obligations under the 1998 Act. In relation to new clause 4, let me explain why the provision in question is not unnecessary and why the approach that we have adopted, and that links the powers to a scheme with a definite timetable, is a neater and more effective way of dealing with the issue than a sunset clause. The digital switchover help scheme will receive information based on definitions of ITV regions and on information from Digital UK, and drawn from the new digital coverage postcode checker which will be available later this year. The scheme will need information for a particular region just before the appropriate qualification period starts. That data, provided through the DWP, other than local authority information on people who are blind and partially sighted, will be refreshed regularly to identify people who become eligible within the qualification period. It will also be refreshed weekly with details of those who have died as that helps reduce the risk of the scheme inadvertently contacting people in cases where the DWP already knows that the eligible person has died. Once the regional period ends, the scheme will no longer need or receive information for the region in question. However, when switchover is later taking place in an adjacent region the scheme might need details on particular individuals who had been identified in a region previously subject to digital switchover, whether or not they were targeted. That might happen in respect of people living in a boundary area, where more than one service was possible or if the judgment about where boundaries lay were to change even slightly during switchover. It is my understanding that the rationale behind new clause 3 is to ensure that the DWP, MOD and other agencies are not able to disclose data on people living in regions that have already switched under the Bill. However, the scheme can be provided with information only in connection with switchover help functions.